There’s a lot written about decisions and in particular decision making; Google provides just over 13 million hits in milliseconds.  Everybody makes decisions every day, and some people must make more difficult decisions than others.  Many more people analyze such decisions, and even more are influenced by them and will criticize them.  In making any decision, no matter how important, there’s always a chance it may go wrong.  It’s only a question of the likelihood and the consequences of a decision being wrong that make things difficult.

Decisions are about risk and the many facets that risk can have; personal victory or failure, economic buoyancy, social or professional standing, and also the opportunity to sleep easy in the knowledge that a decision was ‘safe’.  “Faint heart never won fair lady” reminds us that sometimes people should take a chance if they need something, not to the point of being reckless, but considering the risk.

Perhaps the most difficult part about any decision is not just weighing up the odds of success but overcoming a faint heart, grasping the nettle, and deciding.  It’s simple, on paper, but in actuality can be a real challenge requiring courage in one’s own convictions and overcoming decidophobia.

The Process

The decision-making process is variously defined but boils down to the following: 1) identifying that a decision is needed, 2) gathering information, 3) identifying alternatives, 4) weighing up the pros and cons, 5) choosing an option, 6) implementing it, and then 7) reviewing and adjusting if possible or if required.

More often than not people are late in identifying that a decision is, in fact, needed.  The time wasted means that information that could have been obtained is not available and we need assumptions.  Sometimes there is a paucity of alternatives, and the wrong people are involved or the right people too late.  There’s also the risk that in choosing an option it may mean failure or that it may backfire and bring ridicule and blame.

The process is easy and so, logically speaking, is the mechanism.

The Mechanism

The decision-making mechanism is a simple balance – we have the two pans of knowledge and intuition with a beam of experience resting on a fulcrum of judgement.

For example, if there is no knowledge and no experience a first decision will be made on instinct, or pure guesswork, alone.

Conversely if there is knowledge but limited experience then any intuition will be limited and it will be difficult to judge if a decision is ‘good’ or applicable or not.

As another example if there is vast experience (long beam) and unlimited knowledge then there is less ‘gut feel’ and better judgement.  Just consider the pole that a tight-rope walker carries which allows for better balance (increased rotational inertia), experience counts.

In making a decision we need facts and herein lies the real issue.  Decisions are often made with incomplete information at best, no information at worst and possibly adverse facts that can be so easily ignored in arriving at a decision.  Decisions are inevitably based on assumptions and without the benefit of hindsight.  Some decision makers may consciously delay decisions but can also dodge them by delegating or deferring them to somebody else.

But that somebody else will need to use the same process but with a smaller balance and less time.  This leads to the utilisation of less experience, less knowledge, and less judgement so there is perhaps more intuition and a tendency towards the instincts of fight or flight, or to make friends or create foes.

The Spectrum

Decisions are never ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ at the time they are made, they can only be determined after implementation and the consequences are realised.  There is no ‘perfect’ decision and optimal decisions made on time are ‘best’.  After all, deciding to shut the gate after a horse has bolted is a good decision but of no use to neither the man nor the beast. Decisions are also a factor of the environment in which they are made.

With positive environments decisions can be made without any real fear of repercussion or punishment.  If decisions are proven to be ‘good’ then credit is given where credit is due, and lessons are learned from any mistakes.  In toxic environments any decision can be punitive time bombs that attract blame and derision if they go wrong and credit for the ‘boss’ if they are right.  It’s human nature to feel some pleasure when somebody else is wrong or fails as it gives a sense of superiority.  If this becomes chronic, we have epicaricacy or schadenfreude and a fear of decision making will probably be commonplace.

Any decisions that are made under such subversive conditions are made with a view to covering one’s rear and evading any responsibility.  Consequently decisions tend to be collective so no one person can be held accountable.  If, and oftentimes when, things do go wrong there is confusion in the resultant smoke screens as everybody dives for cover – at least that is one decision that is made quickly.

Decisiveness and Indecision?

When making a decision there needs to be decisiveness otherwise there is indecision, and we can be caught between two stools.  Some decision makers can adopt a suitably vague approach to gloss over gaps and trust to luck that somebody will cover up the shortfalls.  Others decide to delegate and pass the buck but at least a decision has been made.

Sometimes there is a conscious decision not to decide.  Doing nothing or adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach can be valid, but not forever.  Wizard Gandalf said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” and at some stage a decision to do something else will be required.  This is where indecision rears its ugly head.

A famous British comedian, Tommy Cooper once quipped “I used to be indecisive…but now I’m not so sure”.  Decisions need to be definitive otherwise there can so easily be confusion and misdirection.  It’s then we realise that “when you are up to your neck in alligators it’s easy to forget that the decision was to drain the swamp” and we have ended up doing the wrong thing.

The worst thing about indecision is continuing with the indecision rather than deciding to stop, admit the shortcoming, and decide to do the right thing.  But one thing will be certain you’ll be damned by some if you do and damned by others if you don’t…perhaps that’s the real difficulty about deciding!